Lyft Competes with Uber for Concierge Healthcare Rides

Last week, Uber announced its plan to release Uber Health, a vehicle service to get patients to and from medical appointments. In the wake of the announcement, Lyft, Uber’s rival, released a statement saying they were already working in the market. For years, Lyft has been building up partnerships with brokers of non-emergency medical transportation. This includes nine of the top 10 healthcare systems in the U.S. Lyft’s goal is to reduce the number of Americans who fail to get healthcare by 2020. Today, we will look at the difference in healthcare medical transport for Lyft that could reduce missed healthcare appointments.

Who Did It First?

Lyft wasn’t going to let Uber just take the spotlight of a plan they say they have had for years. The riding platform is partnering with an electronic health records company that will give 2,500 hospitals the ability to request rides. Moreover, All Scripts, the company Lyft will be partnering with, will service over 150,000 physicians. These physicians will be able to freely use the driving app platform. In 2016, the company released a statement announcing their partnership with Med-trans Network. They would offer rides to non-emergency medical appointments through the app. Ultimately, the company hopes to reduce the number of Americans who fail to get to healthcare appointments by half.

Conquering the concierge rides

Partnered with companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield, Sutter, and CareLinx, Lyft has been in the concierge health market service for some time now. As a result, it could be hard for Uber to catch up. Competition aside, Uber and Lyft are going to make a big impact on the health industry. Together, they will reduce the amount of missed appointments. As of right now, patients miss about 42% of their appointments. However, Lyft and Uber, partnering with healthcare systems, can achieve a decrease in that number. Users won’t need a smartphone or even a credit card to receive rides. A study done in 2016 found that Lyft’s NEMT reduced patient waiting times down to 8.7 minutes – a 30 percent reduction – and cut per-ride costs by 32.4 percent, now only costing $21.32. In conclusion, it will be very possible for the company to help reduce missed appointments. With Lyft and Uber Health, we will be seeing a decrease in patients missing appointments hopefully by large numbers.

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